Farmers get power tillers courtesy vegetable program

[caption id="attachment_37791" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Farmers and officials of the Horticulture department mill around power tillers as instructors explain their use and how to use the machineries. The department organized a program on Saturday to distribute power tillers to selected ‘Farmers Interest Groups’ of Kohima district under the National Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters.[/caption] EMN Dimapur, April 18 The department of Horticulture has distributed several power tillers to farmers. The department organized a program on Saturday at the directorate of Horticulture to distribute power tillers to selected ‘Farmers Interest Groups’ (FIGs) of Kohima district under the National Vegetable Initiative for Urban Clusters (NVIUC). The NVIUC is a special scheme covering the districts of Kohima and Dimapur. Watienla Jamir, director of Horticulture was the chief guest of the event. Speaking during the occasion, the chief guest said that availing power tillers was a ‘long awaited dream’ of the FIGs and the farmers have earned it ‘through their exemplary hard work’. While lauding the efforts of the farmers’ producer organizations as well as the departmental officers for making the facility possible, she urged the department and farmers alike to work ‘with a sense of responsibility, sincerity, and maintain transparency’.Jamir also urged the FIGs to maintain the machineries efficiently as they were an important tool to reducing the drudgery of farming and make their lives more convenient. President of Farmers’ Producer Organization of Kohima Kheza also spoke during the event. He expressed gratitude to the department of Horticulture for assisting the vegetable farmers through various inputs besides maintenance support. He thanked the department for providing the power tiller free to the selected beneficiaries and urged the farmers to use the machineries as instructed by the department. He informed those present that with the efforts of the department, four farmers, two each from Kohima and Dimapur, have been invited to Bihar to be trained on vegetable seed production. A demonstration on the use of the power tillers was given later to the farmers before the machineries were distributed by the departmental officers.